Peak-isolated biomes in Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico
Madrean Sky Islands montane forests
Apache Peak in the Whetstone Mountains, as seen from the Kartchner Caverns State Park
Madrean Sky Islands montane forests ecoregion
Ecology
Biome
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest
Geography
Countries
Mexico
United States
States
Arizona
Chihuahua
New Mexico
Conservation
Conservation status
Critical/Endangered
The Madrean Sky Islands are enclaves of Madrean pine–oak woodlands, found at higher elevations in a complex of small mountain ranges in southern and southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico. The sky islands are surrounded at lower elevations by the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. The northern west–east perimeter of the sky island region merges into the higher elevation eastern Mogollon Rim and the White Mountains of eastern Arizona (southern Anasazi region).
The sky islands are the northernmost of the Madrean pine–oak woodlands, and are classified as part of the Sierra Madre Occidental pine–oak forests ecoregion, of the tropical and subtropical coniferous forests biome. The sky islands were isolated from one another and from the pine–oak woodlands of the Sierra Madre Occidental to the south by the warming and drying of the climate since the ice ages.
There are approximately 27 Madrean sky islands in the United States, and 15 in northern Mexico. The major Madrean sky island ranges in Arizona are the Baboquivari Mountains, Chiricahua Mountains, Huachuca Mountains, Pinaleño Mountains, Santa Catalina Mountains, Santa Rita Mountains and Whetstone Mountains. Similar sky island ranges include the Animas Mountains in New Mexico and the Guadalupe Mountains, Davis Mountains and Chisos Mountains in west Texas.
Significant urban areas located very close to the Madrean Sky Islands include Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Tucson, Arizona.
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The MadreanSkyIslands are enclaves of Madrean pine–oak woodlands, found at higher elevations in a complex of small mountain ranges in southern and southeastern...
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is a list of birds that have been observed in the MadreanSkyIslands, which are enclaves of Madrean pine-oak woodlands, found at higher elevations in...
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and wetter than the Tucson Mountains. The Rincons, as one of the MadreanSkyIslands between the southern Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Madre Oriental...
southwestern New Mexico, and northern Sonora is the region of the MadreanSkyIslands, a region of higher Sonoran Desert mountain ranges. This species...
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northwest Chihuahua and northeast Sonora contain insular skyisland mountain ranges, (the MadreanSkyIslands), or smaller subranges in association. There are...
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Madre Occidental cordillera. The region contains skyisland mountain ranges, called the MadreanSkyIslands, some separated from the Sierra Madre Occidental...
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southeast of Arizona's Sonoran Desert region, nor into the skyislands of the MadreanSkyIslands region. The pleasant-tasting sap is consumed by bees and...
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Patagonia, and Sierra San Antonio ranges are part of the MadreanSkyIslands ecoregion, the skyisland mountain ranges region on the north of the Sierra Madre...
mountaintops, and associated valleys are part of the skyisland region called the MadreanSkyIslands of Arizona–New Mexico, and Sonora–Chihuahua, in the...
incana subsp. oblongifolia (=Alnus oblongifolia); Arizona alder – MadreanSkyIslands of southwestern North America, in Arizona, New Mexico, and Northwestern...
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